Just recently I listened to Neil Diamond's Taproot Manuscript, an album that meant a great deal to me in 1970, the year of its release. I was 15. I think this is my first listen in fifty years. It was a wild ride, by turns utter cringe (as we say today) and some of the most beautiful pop music I've ever heard. Which was kind of the way things went ( Read more... )

I'm about to go in the road again. At the end of this month, in two days, I move out of here, spend one night with my family, and then I'm driving to New Orleans to see the last two weeks of Mardi Gras.

When I move out of a place, especially if I'm gong on the road rather than moving into another, it always conjures up some old trauma, that ( Read more... )